So, I had to redesign the entire Geomancy system. I created such a system to act as a "spice" for the battle system - allowing the battle to twist unexpectedly and change rails. Basically there are 16 geomantic figures and each enables a "rule change" or special effect to take place for a turn.

I've recently blogged about the old geomancy system and it's flaws, so let's cut it short and look at the principles behind this redesign:

1) It's better when the player has some control over a mechanic. Players feel good when they are allowed to come up with tactics and devise their own solutions. So, instead of randomly rolling a new geomantic figure every turn, now the player (and the enemy) can activate a figure whenever they want. They are limited to 2 (sometimes 3) figures per battle.

2) Allow for emergent gameplay. Rolling a new geomantic figure every turn forced a kind of emergency solution now and then, but it was lame. The new system, however, allows you to use multiple figures on a turn, combining different effects. As there are 16 different figures, I can't even fathom how many different strategies players can come up with! - and also, there are countless ways it can backfire too ;)

3) Keep players' attention tightly focused. The core loop of this game is placing, using and removing elemental tokens on a table. You do it through your team's skills. The Geomantic Figures aren't supposed to compete for player's attention; thus I limited their effects to shaping how that core loop flows. No Figure requires direct interation from the player (such as clicking on a character to set a target), they all apply generally to both teams and the whole table. So I keep the player always focused on the table - and his team's skills (as the sole way to interact with it).

4) Keep it simple. Most of the new geomantic effects boil down to a single rule change. It's complexity lies in the combination, not the base elements. Also, if I miss the mark and the new stuff ends up being bland, it's easy to add complexity on top. But the foundation must be kept solid, cohesive and simple.

So that's it! This redesign and subsequent refactor took me about two months. working about an hour everyday and some extra when I had the opportunity. There's still a tutorial lacking for the system, and also the planetary and zodiacal signatures of each figure are presently usless (I plan on changing that too, but it'll wait for  0.5.1 :)

I hope you enjoy the game! And anyone who plays it: I welcome all sorts of feedback.

Cheers!